What syscalls does a TCP server need?

The minimal useful TCP server must at least use the commands socket/bind/listen/accept/recv/send/close:

  1. tcp_listen_fd = socket(TCP): “OS, please create a TCP socket, and give me a file descriptor referencing it”.
  2. bind(tcp_listen_fd, 9999): “OS, please point TCP port 9999 to the new TCP socket”.
  3. listen(tcp_listen_fd): “OS, please start listening on the TCP port (9999)”.
  4. tcp_conn_fd = accept(tcp_listen_fd): “OS, please put me to sleep until there’s a connection to the TCP port, then give me a file descriptor referencing the new TCP connection”.
  5. bytes = recv(tcp_conn_fd): “OS, please put me to sleep until there are some bytes sent by the other end of the TCP connection, then give me some of those bytes”.
  6. send(tcp_conn_fd, bytes): “OS, please send these bytes to the other end of the TCP connection”.
  7. close(tcp_conn_fd): “OS, I’m done with this TCP connection. Close it and remove this file descriptor”.
  8. close(tcp_listen_fd): “OS, I’m done listening for new TCP connections. Stop listening on the TCP port, and remove this file descriptor”.

I wrote this because I felt like it. This post is my own, and not associated with my employer.

Jim. Public speaking. Friends. Vidrio.